DUBAI // A Dubai-based schoolboy goalkeeper will relocate to France this summer after being signed by a Ligue 2 club.
Jassem Koleilat, 16, is set to join the ranks of Stade Lavallois, who finished 13th in the second tier of French football last season, after impressing on trial.
“In the first week, I trained with the reserve pros, then I trained with the under 19s, and at the end of those two weeks, the scout brought me into his office,” Koleilat said
“He handed me the No 1 keeper’s shirt – the pro keeper’s shirt – and said: ‘Here’s a gift, we are going to give you a two-year contract.’
“I didn’t have any words to say. I was just staring at the shirt thinking, is this actually happening? I picked up the phone and called my dad.”
At the other end of the line, father Aziz, a Czech-Lebanese who brought his family to live in Dubai when son Jassem was two months old, was equally speechless.
His son had originally started out in football as a striker, playing with mates on the park pitches of Dubai.
Back then he had an active dislike for playing in goal, and was only tried there when his then coach picked the most junior player in the squad to play between the posts.
"At first I didn't like goalkeeping, then one day at training the coach said, 'Who is the youngest one here?'," said Koleilat, who has also trained at Chelsea, Nantes and Lille in recent times.
“It was me, so I had to go in goal. I was pulling some pretty good saves and I ended up loving it, so I stayed in goal.”
The Prague-born teenager is currently a pupil at the Lycee Francais Internationale Georges Pompidou school in Dubai.
He will continue to dovetail his baccalaureate studies with training at the club in western France. He has an initial two-year deal, following which will be the prospect of full professional terms.
Frederic Roux, the coach who has overseen Koleilat’s development over the past year and a half, believes his protege is capable of playing at the very top level in Europe if he continues his current rate of progress.
The 42-year-old Frenchman, who had a 13-year career in France’s top divisions, also thinks Laval is the ideal starting point to achieve that aspiration.
It was the club where Franck Leboeuf, the former France centre-back, started his career, which might serve as extra inspiration for Koleilat, given he is a Chelsea fan.
“For me, this is the right option,” said Roux, who provides specialist training for 40 young keepers at his Ultimate Goalkeeper Academy in Dubai.
“Laval is a small club, with a small structure, but they have big confidence in young players.
“I am sure at the beginning he will get the opportunity to play for the under 19 team, but maybe in one or two years, for the first team. I am convinced of this.
“I am very happy with this decision. The next step will be a bigger club, but as the first option in Europe, this is the best for Jassem.”
Koleilat, who speaks English with his father, Arabic with his Lebanese mother, and attends a French-language school, has few worries about the prospect of living abroad away from his family.
“When you are off to a different country, with people you don’t know or a city you don’t know very well, you really have to adapt,” Koleilat said.
“But I think I’ll be fine. When I was there, I got to know most of the players and had some good times with them.”
Roux, who counts Bordeaux and Lyon among his former clubs and Zinedine Zidane among his former teammates, is sure Koleilat will prosper when he leaves home.
“It is a big step for him and a big challenge – for his parents as well,” Roux said.
“To decide to let Jassem go to France is not an easy decision, but I think they understand this is his passion, his life. They have done everything for him to help and support him.
“Sure, at first it will not be easy for Jassem, because he will be alone, with no parents, no brother, no-one, but I think he will love a challenge like this. I’m confident it will be a success for him.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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